Today’s lesson is a study of Hebrews 2:14 through Hebrews 3:6. You can download it here in PDF form:

Hebrews 2:14 – Hebrews 3:6 (PDF file; 6 pages)

Matthew 6:7: “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”

This is another thing that God does not appreciate. When we pray we tend to say the same thing over, and over, and over… for years, as if God is deaf and senile and won’t hear us unless we ask Him repeatedly. We seem to think that if we bug Him enough He will eventually cave in just to shut us up. But as Jesus pointed out:

Matthew 6:8: “Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”

God isn’t up there wondering what we need. He knows exactly what is going on – better than we do, actually. He is aware of our situation.

Matthew 6:6: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”

Once again we see the same approach – pray with humility, in secret. Don’t pray out in public with big, fancy prayers so that everyone will see how amazing you are. The point of prayer is not to impress other people – just like the point of doing good is not to impress other people. The point is to talk to God. It is a personal thing. If you are trying to impress other people with your godliness then you are doing it wrong.

Today’s lesson is a study of Hebrews chapter 2, verses 1 through 13. You can download it here in PDF form:

Hebrews 2:1-13 (PDF file; 6 pages)

Matthew 6:4: “That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”

This passage doesn’t actually use the phrase ‘heavenly reward’, but I think it is implied. There are some people whose deeds are known before they die, and there are others who are not discovered until after they die – and there are still others whose deeds are never learned at all. I think there may be rewards in this life, but I suspect that the real reward for obedience and faithfulness does not come until the next life. That is when we will be rewarded openly.

Matthew 6:1: “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.”

This is pretty straightforward: don’t do your good deeds for the purpose of having other people see you do them. When you do something good, be secretive about it. Don’t make it a public spectacle, like the people who donate $10 million to cancer research and get a big article in the newspaper about it. If the reason you’re doing something is so that other people will say “Look at what a great person he is!” then you’ve already blown it. Don’t do that.

In other words, it is best if people had no idea that you did a good deed. God doesn’t want you parading your good deeds around. He doesn’t want you telling other people all about all the great things you’ve done. He doesn’t want you holding yourself up and saying “Look at what a great person I am!” That honors you; it doesn’t honor God.

Notice also the subtle implication of verse 1: there are Heavenly rewards, and some people will get them while others will not. That much is obvious: after all, the whole point of the verse is that people who are public about their good deeds do NOT get rewarded, while those that are quiet about them DO get rewarded. These Heavenly rewards matter, and we ought to focus on them far more than we actually do.

In this morning’s church service I delivered a message on pre-Tribulation prophecy. As usual, I wrote out the sermon before I delivered it, and I have posted the written version to this blog. You can download it right here:

Pre-Tribulation Prophecy (PDF file; 11 pages)

I also wanted to let you know that a while back I wrote a book about end-times prophecy. You can download that as well, free of charge, right here:

Even So, Come, Lord Jesus (PDF file; 263 pages)

For those who would prefer the Kindle version of the book, you can find it for sale here.

Today’s lesson is a study of Hebrews chapter 1. You can download it here in PDF form:

Hebrews 1 (PDF file; 9 pages)

Matthew 5:43: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.”

For the record, there actually isn’t a verse in the Old Testament that says “hate thine enemy”. Christ is describing what people actually do: they love their friends and they hate their enemies. But Christ has a higher standard:

Matthew 5:44: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;”

Jesus wants us to love our enemies and be a blessing to people that hate us. This doesn’t come naturally at all; in fact it’s quite difficult. But it honors the Lord when we love not just those who love us, but those who don’t love us.

Now, this doesn’t mean that if someone comes along and murders our family, we should do nothing about it and allow them to go on more killing sprees. Being loving is not the same thing as being nice. Society tells us to “be nice” and not judge people; God tells us to preach the gospel of repentance from sin – which means we need to preach about sin. Society tells us that evil is fine; God tells us to resist evil.

What these verses do mean is that we need to seek the welfare of those around us – even if those people are trying to hurt us. After all, God loved us when we hated Him. Jesus died for His enemies, not for His friends. Jesus offered us His forgiveness when we were still sinners. He extended mercy to us, and He commands us to do the same. Vengeance belongs to God, not to us. It is our job to seek and to save them which are lost – not to “have our revenge”.

Matthew 5:39: “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.”

The key here is “at the law”. Christ is saying that Christians should not seek revenge, but should instead comply with legal court orders. In verse 40 He mentions someone being sued in court and having their coat taken away. In verse 41 He mentions the Roman law that allowed soldiers to force people to carry their packs for a mile. In all of these cases, where the law of the land has handed down a ruling, we are to comply – even if it is unfair.

This is not at all saying that society should do away with justice altogether and allow evil to run rampant. God expects society to round up criminals and mete out justice. Those who do evil should not be left alone so they can keep murdering people; instead they should be stopped and dealt with according to God’s law. But it is not up to us to avenge ourselves or to resist the law. We are to be compliant as much as possible – but no further, for there are some areas where there can be no compromise. (For example, a law requiring Christians to stop following Jesus is a law that Christians cannot obey.)

Here is today’s lesson, which I have uploaded to this blog as a PDF:

God Punishes Immoral Nations

Matthew 5:37: “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

I think this verse is pretty straightforward. Instead of swearing great oaths and making promises that we have no intention of keeping, God just wants us to be honest. Let our yes be yes and our no be no. We should do what we’ve promised and keep our word. That is what honors God – not big promises that have no real meaning. We should be people of our word.

How He Became King: After he assassinated Pekah
When He Began Reigning: Uncertain
Reign Length: 9 years
Ruled Over: Israel
Type of King: Evil
Prophet: Uncertain
Death: Put in prison by the king of Assyria
Burial: Unknown

Hoshea was the last king of Israel. He seized control over the country by assassinating Pekah. He ruled over Israel for 9 years, and did evil:

2 Kings 17:1: “In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.”

During his reign Hoshea conspired against the king of Assyria. When the Assyrian king found out about this he conquered the land of Israel, put Hoshea in prison, and carried away the Israelites as captives:

2 Kings 17:4: “And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.
5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”

God had repeatedly warned the Israelites to repent of their wicked ways, but they refused. Since they would not listen, God removed them from the land:

2 Kings 17:7: “For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
8 And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
10 And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
11 And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger:
12 For they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
13 Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God.
15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.
16 And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
20 And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.”

God did exactly what He said He would do. He told the nation that if they rejected His ways and served other gods then He would remove them from the land, and that is what the Lord did. The nation of Judah and the nation of Israel rejected God and served idols, so God removed them from the land and had them carried away into captivity. The days of the kings had been brought to an end.

Matthew 5:31: “It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”

As it turns out, I’ve written an entire paper that covers the subject of divorce. You can find it right here:

Remarrige After Divorce Is Usually A Sin

Since I cover these verses pretty thoroughly in that paper, I’m not going to repeat it all here.

Here is today’s lesson, which I have uploaded to this blog as a PDF:

God Punishes Those Who Try To Take Israel’s Land